The flirting game
by Lossie
Summary: "Nothing could match up to the impossibility of asking out one Haruno Sakura." A post-war flicket for sasusakuparadise


**A/N**: It's a very short, hopefully amusing one-shot that I wrote for sasusakuparadise (aka my friend Vasia from tumblr). It's sasusaku based on a send-me writing meme on tumblr (you send me one of the quotes from the post and a pairing, and I write you a story where one of the character's says it).  
>Quote for this story is: "I'm trying to flirt with you, okay?"<br>If you're interested in requesting a one-shot from me, you can contact me through tumblr (I'm lossie92 there) :)  
>Enjoy!<p>

**THE FLIRTING GAME**

In his twenty years of life, Sasuke had faced many obstacles and challenges on the way to achieve a certain goal. Some were easier than the others, some proved to be quite tedious and some seemed simply pointless, although they all usually helped him in a way, no matter how small and insignificant said help would seem at the very beginning.

However nothing could match up to the impossibility of asking out one Haruno Sakura.

It wasn't for the lack of trying on his part. Surprisingly enough Sasuke went out of his way to spend time with her after finally coming back to Konoha for good. He had asked for advice and recived pointers – some admittedly better than the others, but all equally appreciated – from numerous sources and applied them in real life to maybe finally start working on his other main goal in life that had somehow always connected to Sakura in one way or another.

The problem laid with Sakura, who remained completely oblivious to his attempts.

When he complimented her looks or abilities, she usually ruffled his hair and said he was cute in the same way he did when Naruto or Kakashi did it.

When he invited her for a meal, she always brought someone with her, which turned what was supposed to be their alone time to a freaking party every single time.

When he asked her to train with him, she would either decline, saying she as too busy or show up and proceed to beat him into a bloody plump just for the heck of it, whereas before she wouldn't have even dared to lay a finger on him. Although her strength was actually a massive turn on, he kind of missed the girly girl Sakura had been before, especially after a particularly tough training session.

But the worst happened every time he tried to flirt with her. It was like she couldn't even hear the words coming out of his mouth! And he wasn't using cheesy pick-up lines either. Naruto had suggested that he was too subtle for a girl like Sakura. Ino and Hinata added that she needed things to be laid down in front of her in simple terms sometimes and since Sasuke had a certain reputation – namely for completely ignoring the fairer sex and being generally uninterested in pursuing relationships – every girl, even as fluent in Sasuke-ish as Sakura was, would have a massive problem with reading his intentions.

That didn't make him feel any better about the entire endeavour though.

When they finally ended up together, just the two of them, by something close to a miracle, Sakura talked and talked, and talked. And then she talked some more, interrupting whatever he was trying to say before he could get to the point and thus making it undoubtedly more difficult to win her over than it ought to be. It was borderline annoying and he was on the verge of combusting from badly concealed frustration, because his favourite way of dealing with annoying people – namely passive-aggressive silence – didn't work on her either.

He was sitting with her in a tea house in the centre of the village, once again miraculously just with her and not with half the ninja population of Konoha, and she wouldn't stop talking. He had tried to compliment her on her choice in attire for the day, because the simple red dress she was wearing looked very flattering, but he was brushed off. Then he had attempted to flirt with her, but all he got was a few odd looks and a very clear message of shut-up-and-let-me-talk. He had even gone as far as to tell her a joke, which he had heard from Kakashi and found quite funny, but her facial expression clearly suggested that she wasn't amused in the slightest and was probably starting to wonder what the hell was wrong with him.

Truth be told, he was starting to ask himself the very same question.

"… so I go and tell him 'You can't do this! It will tear the stitches!' and you know what he said? That I should maybe educated myself, because I'm clearly not familiar with how this works! Unbelievable, isn't it?!" She ranted on, waving her hands around and spilling a little of her tea onto the table in the process.

He didn't even know what she was talking about. It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous! He was being reduced to a fool and if there was one thing Sasuke hated with passion, it would be precisely this.

He needed to do something about it and fast before he actually lost his mind.

Sakura was about to tell him another story, but Sasuke was faster. Before she could say anything, he leaned over the table and kissed her briefly, but soundly, on the lips. He then moved away and resumed his seat, satisfied with himself and Sakura's completely stupefied expression.

"I'm trying to flirt with you, okay?" He said calmly, fixing her with a pointed look. "Do us both a favour and either tell me that we should be only friends or respond. I'm sick and tired of games, Sakura."

For a moment, he was sure she was going to start crying. Predictably, it made him feel awful about his uncalled for outburst and he was about to apologize, when the unexpected happened and she started laughing instead.

He was completely still for a moment, rendered motionless and speechless by shock, and then he looked around, his eyes glancing at the faces of the other patrons of the tea house, only to discover that they were in much the same state of disbelief as he was.

It took Sakura roughly ten minutes to calm down and when she did, she leaned over the table and took one of his hands in hers, squeezing it lightly.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun," she said with a smile and a light blush adoring her face. "I thought it was quite obvious I was flirting with you too. Apparently, Ino is right and I'm completely hopeless at this."

This time it was Sasuke's turn to laugh.


End file.
